Blacktail Deer Plateau we're on the edge

aw but maybe @Aliac? :)

Raid has mixed feelings regarding winter. Sometimes, she thinks it is the best season - cold and magical, it bears a strange kind of beauty that she rarely finds in anything else and it feeds her yearning for melancholia. On the other hand, her coat is thin compared to the northern wolves and sometimes, just sometimes, the wind bites deep into her flesh like a dozen icy daggers stabbing continuously. It doesn't help that her headaches seemed to be returning with increasing frequency as winter's peak grew closer and the weather grew colder. Pain and cold, Raid has realised, do not go together.

Swallowing the last bite of rabbit, she disposes of the remains and stretches. The herb cache is looking a bit thin, so today, Raid is looking to see if there are still any healthy plants she could use. She doubts there is but it doesn't hurt to try and besides she hasn't done her daily border patrols yet so she could check for plants during that - it was a win-win situation. Kind of, at least. 

Raid exhales softly, watching wisps of white smoke drift away into the winter air. Dragon breath. A memory flickers briefly to mind, but vanishes just as quickly as it arrives. She shakes her head, disappointed but not surprised and sighs. Quietly, Raid pads forwards, scraping her paw against the ground to leave her scent behind. The hollow feeling in her chest has returned and try as she might to ignore it, it doesn't go away. Instead, it gnaws at her and threatens to devour her from the inside. Let it. You don't have anything else to live for, anyways. No friends. No family. No memories. Why are you even here, again?

Aliac could feel the snow under her paws and the wind through her fur as well as warmth on her back that the sun had provided. She looks up at the sky the backk down and she catches the scent of a female nearby, following the scent, the young snow colored female see's the wolf that she had smelt and lets out a friendly bark in greeting.

A bark rings through the air, jerking Raid abruptly out of her troubled thoughts. Silently cursing herself for her lack of awareness, she glances around, amber eyes landing softly on an unfamiliar figure. That didn't surprise her. She knows that she is nothing more than a stranger to the majority of her packmates and though a small part of her wished to change that, there was a larger part which insists for her to keep to herself. Was paranoia a side effect of amnesia? Or had her pre-amnesiac self been like this as well? Raid didn't know, and at this moment, nor did she particularly wish to know. Instead, she inclines her head slightly in greeting and pauses in her footsteps.

Aliac slowly approaches the she-wolf. "Hello." She says simply as she walks into a deep patch in the snow and being the clumsy wolf that she was, she just managed to fall into it. Not that it made a difference, seeing as though she already blended in with the snow anyway. The yearling managed to find her way back to solid ground as she looked up at the wolf

"Hi," Raid licks her lips, wondering absentmindedly if all interactions in this universe started out this awkward. She doubts it. "Oh shit - hey, you alright?" the words slip messily out of her mouth as the stranger falls into a deeper patch of snow. It would be strange for her packmate not to be alright, as snow is soft and it's hard to injure yourself on it, but things happen and who knows, there might be some sort of sharp rock underneath that massive pile of white and wolf.

Aliac looks at the wolf, she was surprised that she did not just laugh at her for her clumsy actions. Nervertheless the young female nods. "Yes, thank you. My name is Aliac." The girl decides to introduce herself as she shackes off the snow, careful to not hit the other female with it.

Laughing. Raid hasn't laughed in a long time - in fact, as far as she can remember, she has barely even laughed once since her amnesia. It doesn't feel strange, in fact, it kind of feels natural - maybe because in her current reclusive circumstances, laughter would be the first sign of madness rather than something to be celebrated. "Aliac," Raid tastes the word on her tongue and cants her head, a smile darting quickly across her face. "I'm Raid." She pauses and glances around, then inclines her crown in the direction of travel. "Wanna come with me on a patrol?" Raid offers, suddenly unsure.

The yearling hadn't had a chance to get familiar with the territory since she had joined and thought that it would be a great idea. "Sure, that'd be great." She accepts the females offer and it would also be a good chance for her to get to know her fellow pack mates.

Aliac accepts easily and Raid responds with a smile, strange as it feels on her lips, and swings her head away as she pads away towards where she had been before Aliac fell. Quietly, she sprays the ground before proceeding forward, already somewhat regretting her decision to invite someone along with her. Definitely not a social butterfly, Raid has no idea how to start a conversation or keep one going. But neither is she going to allow an awkward silence to settle. So, she forces herself to speak, "How'd you come by Morningside?" Raid asks, amber eyes seeking out the girl's brown ones. 

Aliac thought about her run in with the Moonspear wolf and began to speak. "Well I was running after being chased off by a wolf from Moonspear and just stumbled here. I thought it would be nice to be a part of a pack instead of chancing survival everyday." She finished and waited for her to respond.

"Nice," Raiden replies automatically before realising, all too late, that 'nice' probably wasn't the best response to her story. Still, it's too late now and she casts a sideway glance at Aliac, wondering if the other girl caught her slip-up and if she did, Raid would offer an apologetic smile. "Moonspear huh? Never heard of them. Why'd they chase you off?" It's a harmless question but Raid knows all too well that sometimes a harmless question to someone is a painful one for another. She opens her mouth, ready to tell Aliac that it's fine if she feels uncomfortable with answering.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I believe it was because I had nearly crossed their border chasing a rabbit." She said honestly as she kept up the pace with Raid. "I had gotten lost in the hunt and lost track of direction." She was glad she had stopped herself before she crossed because that would not have been good.

Raid nods at Aliac's reply, though she can't help but wonder just how desperate the other girl was when she was chasing the rabbit. Or, maybe she wasn't desperate at all - maybe she just lost track of where she was and forgot her surroundings. Raid can't really relate, and in all honesty, doubts that such a thing can happen - but this is just because she's always alert, always on her guard, so rarely ever does things like accidentally cross borders. "Sucks," the girl says, casually kicking at the dirt beneath her paws as she marks the ground.

Aliac nods in agreement. "Yeah but it wasn't all bad I mean, I found Morningside and I am loving every minute of it." She was happy to be here, surrounded by many kind wolves. They showed her kindness even though she knew them not. It was something that she hadn't received in a long time.

Raid resists the urge to tilt her head and cock an eyebrow at Aliac's statement, but there is an underlying disbelief stirring in the pit of her stomach. It's not that she doesn't think Morningside is a good pack. Quite the opposite in fact - they provided her with shelter when she had little to no memories and treated her like one of their own despite the very fact that she is an outsider. But, she is not, has never been one to settle easily and comfortably in a new environment, forever sifting through endless suspicions. The chances of Morningside betraying her or holding her captive is rare, Raid knows that but still, something within her keeps her from trusting completely. 

Instead of saying that, however, Raid glances at Aliac out of the corner of her eye and offers the other a half smile - there's an underlying layer of doubt, but it's gone just as fast as it appears. "Yeah," she agrees quietly. "The wolves here are pretty nice. Have you met Aditya?" The male had left a strong impression on Raiden.

OMG this is super short. Won't happen again.

She remembered the name very vaguely. ¨I believe I have but I don't remember when.¨ The young wolf tried to think but ultimately gave up and smiled back.

no worries :) fade with one more post from you?

Raid inclines her head, amber eyes flickering almost absentmindedly over to Aliac, taking in her features with a new sort of detached interest. There is little else to be said about this whole situation, and because Raiden genuinely can't think of anything to say and she isn't the type to force conversation for the sake of conversation when it's with someone she doesn't have romantic interest with, she lets the silence envelop them slowly. It's familiar, warm and feels uncannily like home. Raid shakes her head, though, and allows her thoughts to wander as she follows through the mechanical motions of border patrol, the quiet companionship of Aliac somewhat soothing her troubled soul.